Pope Francis Says Ban on Female Priests Is Likely to Endure

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Pope Francis said the Catholic Church’s ban on female priests will most likely continue forever. The comment came during a press briefing aboard the papal plane late on Tuesday.Published OnNov. 2, 2016CreditImage by Pool photo by Vincenzo Pinto

The Roman Catholic Church’s teaching that women cannot be ordained as priests is likely to last forever, Pope Francis said on Tuesday as he flew back to Rome from Sweden.

Francis had traveled to Sweden for a historic ceremony commemorating the year leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. He was embraced at an ecumenical church service by the primate of the Church of Sweden, Archbishop Antje Jackelen, who is a woman.

In a news conference aboard the pope’s plane, a Swedish journalist referred to Archbishop Jackelen and asked whether it was realistic to think that there might be female priests in the next few decades.

According to reporters who were on the plane, Francis responded, “On the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, the last word is clear.”

He cited the apostolic letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, written in 1994 by Pope John Paul II, who has since been canonized. The letter said that ordaining women was not possible because Jesus chose only men as his apostles.

“It was given by St. John Paul II, and this remains,” Francis said.

“Really?” the Swedish journalist asked. “Never?”

“If we read carefully the declaration made by St. John Paul II, it goes in this direction,” Francis replied. “But women can do many other things better than men,” he added, noting that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is of great importance in the church’s theology and spirituality.

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Pope Francis embraced Antje Jackelen, the Lutheran archbishop of Uppsala, during an ecumenical Mass on Monday in Lund, Sweden.CreditMax Rossi/Reuters

Francis’s remarks are likely to cheer Catholic traditionalists, who are increasingly prone to accusing the pope of confusing the flock on doctrinal matters. But the same remarks will probably dismay other Catholics who have said they would like to see women eventually serve as priests. About six in 10 American Catholics are in favor of allowing women to be priests, according to a Pew Research Center poll in 2015.

Many Protestant denominations have ordained women as priests and bishops for decades. Among them is the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran denomination, which decided to ordain women in 1958.

In his remarks to journalists on the plane, the pope also praised Sweden for integrating so many migrants and refugees into its culture, and said that other countries should not be afraid to welcome immigrants.

“It’s not human to close doors! It’s not human to close the heart,” Francis said.

Asked whether he planned to travel to Germany to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation next year, Francis said that his schedule was still in flux but he is very likely to travel to India and Bangladesh.

In Malmo, Sweden, on Tuesday, Francis celebrated an outdoor Mass for the country’s small Catholic community, and in his homily offered a new take on the Beatitudes, the blessings offered by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

In addition to Jesus’ eight blessings for the meek, the poor and the hungry, Francis proposed six more for modern times. Among them, he said, “Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home,” a reference to the environment, a phrase he used in his encyclical Laudato Si.

He concluded with: “Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.”

It was a note of praise for those Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox and evangelical Christians who have stepped up efforts to bridge longstanding schisms. Francis’s trip to Sweden to commemorate the Reformation — begun 499 years ago when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to a church door in Germany — was a dramatic gesture intended to highlight the process of reconciliation.

Terrence Tilley, the Avery Cardinal Dulles professor of Catholic theology at Fordham University, said such a response was “uncalled-for.” The pope, he pointed out, was preaching on All Saints Day, when the gospel reading in the Catholic Church is the Beatitudes.

“So what the pope is doing in his sermon is making an application of the Beatitudes for today’s world. He’s riffing. These are variations on a theme, an ancient theme for modern times. An old creed in a new world,” Professor Tilley said. “It’s a classic sermon technique.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Pope Francis Affirms Ban on Female Priests. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe